Equality and quality in higher education (HE) are frequently juxtaposed in the literature. This paper presents evidence to contest deficit assumptions about widening participation, particularly the belief that entering HE ...

This paper offers an insight into the design structure of physics video hooks that were developed by the Science Education Resource design team in the school of education (SOE) in National University of Ireland, Galway ...

Science literacy has become socially and economically very important. European countries stress that science graduates are fundamental for economic growth. Nevertheless, there is a declining student participation in science. ...

This paper explores the social class-differentiated behaviours of access and traditional-entry students, based on a three-year constructivist grounded theory study with 45 undergraduates at an Irish university. The participant ...

Digital media, interactive storytelling and e-books are ubiquitous in contemporary education, and consequently play an increasingly important role in the development of children s nascent and emergent literacy. Digital ...

Drawing upon data collected as part of a research project exploring diversity in Irish higher education, this article focuses on the relational realm of under-represented students¿ experiences. It commences with a brief ...

This article outlines a study to examine if newly qualified teachers (NQTs) who had incorporated iPad within pedagogical practice during initial teacher education, continued to do so in their first two years of teaching, ...

This article reports on two SDL studies of undergraduate physics students and postgraduate science students at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Initial studies (McCauley and McClelland, 2001) indicated that the majority ...

A number of papers in this journal have dealt with the idea of using hooks in physics instruction. A hook, as the name suggests, engages students in learning by triggering their attention and interest. Hooks can be any ...

In this article, Martin McHugh and Veronica
McCauley present a modern and interesting
way to get students more engaged during lessons. They describe a detailed procedure that can be followed by any teacher or adapted to ...

There has been extensive research internationally describing teachers homogenous socio-demographic backgrounds and critiquing the associated equity and diversity issues, most especially with regard to ethnicity and gender, ...

At the time of economic growth in Ireland, declining numbers of students enrolling in the sciences is emerging as an educational concern. Using a 2002 Government of Ireland commissioned report on science: The Task Force ...

Research on the use of iPad in initial teacher education is limited. This paper outlines a study to examine how the professional learning and pedagogical knowledge development of student teachers could be supported following ...

Computer-mediated communication and remote collaboration has become an unexceptional norm as an educational modality for distance and open education, therefore the need to research and analyze students' online learning ...

In Ireland, policy on literacy now aims to expand the role that post-primary teachers of all subjects have in developing students' literacy skills. This paper draws on data from a wider research study carried out in secondary ...

The current recessionary economic climate in Ireland has (re-)awakened a neoliberal agenda that is changing the dynamic of what is being valued within research assessment exercises, specifically across Arts, Humanities and ...

This paper reports research into developing digital storytelling (DST) to enhance reflection within a specific professional learning context - that of a programme of teacher education while concomitantly producing a ...